The present invention relates to the purification and sterilization of water.
Since very few sources of naturally pure drinking water exist, it is the general practice in industrialized countries to subject the available water to chemical purification processes in order to make it suitable for drinking. The most common purification process consists of the addition of a suitable proportion of chlorine to the water supply. Other processes have been explored, but have not achieved any widespread acceptance.
While purification of water by the addition of chlorine appears to be recognized as an acceptable practice, the addition of chlorine represents a cost for obtaining purified water and chlorine represents a chemical additive which could have long term side effects that have not as yet been identified.
In addition to purification of water, sterile water is required for a variety of purposes, particularly in the medical and scientific fields. In order to produce sterile water, it is necessary to destroy all bacteria therein, generally by the application of heat or by chemical additives. The processes employed for producing sterile water are generally too costly to be applied to the drinking water supply for a community.